T-Mobile, Google finally unveil the first Android phone

T-Mobile, Google, and HTC lifted the curtain on the first Android-enabled …

T-Mobile, Google, and HTC finally officially launched the first Android-enabled mobile device to hit the market. As expected, the first Android phone will be the HTC Dream (also known as the T-Mobile G1), a device with a large touchscreen and a slide-out physical keypad that will run Google's new mobile platform. The Dream will be available through T-Mobile and will launch "simultaneously on both sides of the Atlantic."

The subsidized device will cost $179 (with a two-year contract), and starting today, existing T-Mobile customers will be able to order it online to be delivered to them when it becomes available. The official commercial launch date will be October 22 at T-Mobile stores. T-Mobile said that there will be two data options available for the device in addition to a voice plan: a $25 data plan with limited messaging, and a $35 plan with unlimited messaging and mobile web. Additionally, the company said that its 3G network would be live in 16 markets by the G1 launch, live in 22 markets by mid-November.

In addition to being chock full of Google's open source goodness, the companies have worked to ensure that the Android-enabled Dream is also chock full of familiar features and apps. Users will have one-click access to all of Google's mobile apps, such as Gmail, Google Maps (including street view, a feature that is infuriatingly missing from the iPhone), Google talk, Google Calendar, and more.

A mobile version of Amazon's MP3 store will be preloaded onto the G1 that will allow users to search, download, buy, and play music directly from the popular DRM-free music store. Like Apple's iTunes WiFi Store, Amazon MP3 on the G1 will require a WiFi connection in order to purchase tracks, but users can search, browse, and listen to samples while anywhere on T-Mobile's network.

And finally, the G1 will come equipped with the Android Market, a mobile app store akin to Apple's own App Store for the iPhone. The companies said that there would be a "steady stream of innovations" in addition to old favorites, like classic games.

Reaction to the announcement so far has been somewhat positive. "Today's unveiling of the T-Mobile G1, the first mobile phone based on the Android platform from the Google-spawned Open Handset Alliance, may be the beginning of a significant movement towards a situation in which a majority of mobile phones will run a high-level operating system, rather than the variety of real-time operating systems currently powering more than 85 percent of the world's mobile phones," ABI Research director Kevin Burden said in an e-mailed statement.

During a Q&A session at the press conference, the company said that there is currently no Exchange compatibility (the companies will rely on a third-party to implement this functionality), but that the G1 will be able to read Microsoft Office documents. In response to a question about whether the device will be tetherable to a laptop, the company said that the G1 was "meant to be used as a mobile device, not as a tethered modem."

There will not be a desktop application "initially," as it is meant to be used as a mobile device. "All synchronization will be handled on the back-end."

The G1 will be SIM-locked to T-Mobile. The company believes that $179 is a "really attractive price" even though it costs considerably more without heavy subsidies, and users should use it on "the network it was built for." There is currently no Skype compatibility, although T-Mobile did not specify whether such a thing would be allowed if a third-party were to develop it.

The event ended without much substantial talk about the platform's openness, although the companies emphasized repeatedly that they are committed to being open source and that the Open Software Alliance would enable Android to be used in many different ways in the future. When it becomes available, Ars Technica will have an in-depth review of the G1 from both an open source and consumer perspective, so keep your eyes out!